Ax of the Month -- Les Paul DC Studio

Product Spotlight by Walter Carter

Does a carved-top, double-cutaway Les Paul ring a bell? Didn't the Amplifier review such an animal only three months ago? And wasn't it the Les Paul DC Something-or-Other?

Yes, yes and yes. Gibson's Custom*Art*Historic division introduced the Les Paul DC Pro at the summer NAMM show, and it was featured as the Ax of the Month in the August issue of the Amplifier. At the same time, however, Gibson USA -- aka the Nashville division, "the plant," the division that makes the "regular production" models -- introduced its version of the carved-top, double-cutaway Les Paul, called the DC Studio.

This cross-divisional model phenomenon is a new twist on an old practice. In the 1930s, for example, you could buy a Gibson L-0 flat top for $25 (list) or you could buy the same guitar -- but without the adjustable truss rod -- under the Kalamazoo brand as Model KG-14 for $14. In the '50s, Gibson offered several levels of Les Pauls, all within the Gibson line. You could buy the Les Paul Model, or you could buy the more expensive Custom or the less expensive Special and Junior.

In the 1990s, Gibson's divisional identities -- Custom for limited-run, high-end models; USA for regular production; Epiphone for the value-minded -- are naturally suited for cross-divisional model families. The Joe Perry Les Paul began as a limited-run Custom model and then moved to Gibson USA after the initial run was sold out. The Slash Les Paul also started in Custom in a limited run, all of them elaborately hand-carved, and then moved to a less-costly version in the Epiphone line.

That's a roundabout way of explaining why there's a Les Paul DC in both the Custom and USA lines. The more important issue is, what's the difference?

Usually in a product profile, we start with the features and end up with the price, but in this case the price of the Studio may be its most remarkable feature. U.S. suggested list is $1279-$1579 (depending on finish). By comparison, the Custom version, the DC Pro, checks in at $3200-$3400 (depending on pickup selection).

So what do you get? You get the same basic guitar: double-cutaway body outline (like the 1958 Les Paul Junior), carved maple top cap, chambered mahogany body, two pickups, single tone and volume controls.

What don't you get? Like other models in the Studio family, the DC Studio has no body binding. Where the DC Pro has a flamed top, rosewood fingerboard and the slim, straight-pull headstock of the ES-336, the DC Studio has a plain top, rosewood board and traditional Les Paul headstock. Where the Pro has optional scale lengths, pickups and bridges, the Studio comes only with a 25 1/2" scale, humbuckers and wraparound tailpiece.

These differences are for the most part a matter of aesthetics or personal playing preference. The one arguable functional issue -- intonation of the wraparound bridge -- is being remedied to a great degree by Gibson's reissue of the style of wraparound bridge with the "lightning bolt" integral saddle.

Within its own Gibson USA product line, the LP DC Studio also stands out at the price point. It's in the same price range as the two models whose features it combines: the carved-top Les Paul Studio and the double-cutaway Les Paul Special. It's a new look for a Les Paul at an old price.